SKU: PR.312419020

ISBN 9781491131862. UPC: 680160680474. 6.875 x 10.5 inches. English.

Commissioned by the San Francisco Choral Society and the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Terra Nostra is a 70-minute oratorio on the relationship between our planet and humankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. Part I: Creation of the World explores various creation myths from different cultures, culminating in a joyous celebration of the beauty of our planet. Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines human achievements, particularly since the dawn of our Industrial Age, and how these achievements have impacted the planet. Part III: Searching for Balance questions how to create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. In addition to the complete oratorio, stand-alone movements for mixed chorus, and for solo voice with piano, are also available separately.
Terra Nostra focuses on the relationship between our planet and mankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. The oratorio is divided into three parts:Part I: Creation of the World celebrates the birth and beauty of our planet. The oratorio begins with creation myths from India, North America, and Egypt that are integrated into the opening lines of Genesis from the Old Testament. The music surges forth from these creation stories into “God’s World” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which describes the world in exuberant and vivid detail. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “On thine own child” praises Mother Earth for her role bringing forth all life, while Walt Whitman sings a love song to the planet in “Smile O voluptuous cool-breathed earth!” Part I ends with “A Blade of Grass” in which Whitman muses how our planet has been spinning in the heavens for a very long time.Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines the achievements of mankind, particularly since the dawn of the Industrial Age. Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall” sets an auspicious tone that mankind is on the verge of great discoveries. This is followed in short order by Charles Mackay’s “Railways 1846,” William Ernest Henley’s “A Song of Speed,” and John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s “High Flight,” each of which celebrates a new milestone in technological achievement. In “Binsey Poplars,” Gerard Manley Hopkins takes note of the effect that these advances are having on the planet, with trees being brought down and landscapes forever changed. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “A Dirge” concludes Part II with a warning that the planet is beginning to sound a grave alarm.Part III: Searching for Balance questions how we can create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. Three texts continue the earth’s plea that ended the previous section: Lord Byron’s “Darkness” speaks of a natural disaster (a volcano) that has blotted out the sun from humanity and the panic that ensues; contemporary poet Esther Iverem’s “Earth Screaming” gives voice to the modern issues of our changing climate; and William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much With Us” warns us that we are almost out of time to change our course. Contemporary/agrarian poet Wendell Berry’s “The Want of Peace” speaks to us at the climax of the oratorio, reminding us that we can find harmony with the planet if we choose to live more simply, and to recall that we ourselves came from the earth. Two Walt Whitman texts (“A Child said, What is the grass?” and “There was a child went forth every day”) echo Berry’s thoughts, reminding us that we are of the earth, as is everything that we see on our planet. The oratorio concludes with a reprise of Whitman’s “A Blade of Grass” from Part I, this time interspersed with an additional Whitman text that sublimely states, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love…”My hope in writing this oratorio is to invite audience members to consider how we interact with our planet, and what we can each personally do to keep the planet going for future generations. We are the only stewards Earth has; what can we each do to leave her in better shape than we found her?

SKU: BR.CHB-5380-00

ISBN 9790004413814. 7.5 x 10.5 inches. German / Latin.

As director of the Bavarian Radio Choir, Howard Arman has been actively engaged with international Christmas carols through various Christmas-related CD productions in the past years. This has resulted in a number of original arrangements for four- to eight-part mixed choir a cappella, shedding new light on well-known classics such as O du frohliche [O, you joyful], Stille Nacht [Silent Night] and Lasst uns froh und munter sein [Let us be happy and cheerful]. The first volume includes five Christmas carols from the German-speaking regions. They range from simple but harmonically intriguing settings such as Lieb Nachtigall, wach auf [Dear nightingale, wake up] to eight-part sound paintings with bell-like chimes as in O du frohliche and classical double choir settings such as Resonet in laudibus. The second volume includes five Christmas spirituals with English texts, forming a contrast to the solemn and festive character of the first. The choir can prove its swing and jazz qualities here; the stirring arrangements are a gain for classical Christmas concerts, too. Following the tradition of the spiritual, some settings also require soloists, which can, however, also be recruited from the choir if adequate singers are available. The first piece combines the spirituals It's a Birthday and Wasn't That a Mighty Day to form a medley, Ain't That a Rockin' gives a moment of tranquility before the likewise rousing spirituals Mary Had a Baby and Little David conclude the volume. In both volumes, Howard Arman provides a short preface in German and English, explaining the background of each piece and giving advice on performance.

SKU: CA.5408719

Language: Latin.

Michael Haydn composed three of his masses in honor of the holy archangels - St Michael, St Gabriel, and the Raphaelismesse in honor of St Raphael now published. By avoiding the use of vocal soloists, it is one of the genre of Missa in pieno. Four trumpets and two ad lib oboe parts added later by the composer give the work a festive sound in the baroque tradition. At the same time, elements of the 'sensitive style' feature too. The Gloria and Credo exist in two settings, a short version with polytextual passages and a longer version arranged by Haydn himself. The Carus edition, based on authentic performance material in St. Peter's Monastery in Salzburg, contains both versions, with the longer version published here for the first time. Score and parts available separately - see item CA.5408700.

SKU: CA.5408703

ISBN 9790007186913. Language: Latin.

Michael Haydn composed three of his masses in honor of the holy archangels - St Michael, St Gabriel, and the Raphaelismesse in honor of St Raphael now published. By avoiding the use of vocal soloists, it is one of the genre of Missa in pieno. Four trumpets and two ad lib oboe parts added later by the composer give the work a festive sound in the baroque tradition. At the same time, elements of the 'sensitive style' feature too. The Gloria and Credo exist in two settings, a short version with polytextual passages and a longer version arranged by Haydn himself. The Carus edition, based on authentic performance material in St. Peter's Monastery in Salzburg, contains both versions, with the longer version published here for the first time. Score available separately - see item CA.5408700.

SKU: CA.5408700

ISBN 9790007181666. Language: Latin.

Michael Haydn composed three of his masses in honor of the holy archangels - St Michael, St Gabriel, and the Raphaelismesse in honor of St Raphael now published. By avoiding the use of vocal soloists, it is one of the genre of Missa in pieno. Four trumpets and two ad lib oboe parts added later by the composer give the work a festive sound in the baroque tradition. At the same time, elements of the 'sensitive style' feature too. The Gloria and Credo exist in two settings, a short version with polytextual passages and a longer version arranged by Haydn himself. The Carus edition, based on authentic performance material in St. Peter's Monastery in Salzburg, contains both versions, with the longer version published here for the first time.

SKU: HL.14034901

UPC: 888680888701. 6.75x9.75x0.052 inches.

Three short choral settings of peoms by George Herbert, commissioned by The Spitalfields Festival in memory of Peter Lerwill, a generous supporter of the festival. The first performance of the set took place in June 2005 at Christ Church, Spitalfields, by The Cardinall's Musick with Andrew Carwood. The textures of Weir's settings range from the clarity of the Madrigal and Hymn to more complex writing with the choir splitting into as many as eight parts.

SKU: CA.927200

ISBN 9790007302030. English.

A short and accessible work that nevertheless captures an entire cosmos of ideas and elements of contemporary vocal music!The internationally renowned Swedish composer and conductor Karin Rehnqvist undertook some research before beginning work on her composition Universe. Wanting to know how many stars and galaxies are in our universe, she came across estimates by renowned astronomers: 200 billion trillion stars and 2 trillion galaxies. Such dizzying numbers are simply beyond our human comprehension. Universe begins with a swelling opening chord, which directs our gaze into the sky. Then Rehnqvist portrays this dizzy sense of awe by means of tumbling glissandi, rhythmic off-beats that disrupt the meter, secondary clusters stacked on top of each other, and babbling speech. Eschewing major/minor tonality, she instead makes use of pentatonic series and different tonal centers. This work is ideal for ambitious amateur choirs, as the pentatonic series are easy to memorize while the skillful voice leading makes it easy to correctly pitch the clusters. A great piece for anyone wanting an accessible and realizable introduction to contemporary vocal music and advanced performance techniques!For budding astronomers, Karin Rehnqvist recommends the following website:https://theconversation.com/how-many-stars-are-there-in-space-165370

SKU: HL.14032609

UPC: 884088813970. 8.5x11.75x0.168 inches.

Path of Miracles was commissioned by Tenebrae with grateful thanks to Barbara Pollock. The first performance, given by Tenebrae and conducted by Nigel Short, took place on 17th July 2005 at the church of St Bartholomew-the-Great, London as part of the City of London Festival. 5 Sopranos 4 Altos 4 Tenors 4 Basses Crotales.